Dell OptiPlex 7070 Micro Project TinyMiniMicro Guide

Check out the STH main site review: www.servetheho...
In our Dell OptiPlex 7070 Micro guide and review we see what this system offers in the ~1L system category. We have now published guides and reviews on several systems from major vendors and previously published our OptiPlex 3070 Micro review. When we did that review, we wanted to see what the higher-end version with support for better connectivity and features such as Intel vPro offers. What we found in the Dell OptiPlex 7070 Micro is a solution that is perhaps the easiest to service and performed well. We even found an undocumented feature with support for twice the amount of RAM that Dell officially lists. Let us get into the Project TinyMiniMicro guide
Other STH articles mentioned in this video:
- Dell OptiPlex 3070 Micro Review and Guide www.servetheho...
- Plex on Project TinyMiniMicro Guide www.servetheho...
- pfSense Firewall on Project TinyMiniMicro Guide www.servetheho...

[@StefanoAgrotis]

As someone who works with tons of these Dell optiplex minis, they're impressive for their size and the bios is so much nicer to work with than those HP SFF.

[@JoeBlow69938]

Thank you for getting back to the 'home' part of serve the home.

[@pcphantom1978]

Thanks for the heads up on the RAM! I am running a 65W version of this. I have a 2TB m.2 NVMe, I modified the caddy to put a 5TB Seagate BarraCuda 2.5" (15mm) for storage, and I put the i9-9900 CPU. I originally went with 32gb G.Skill Ripjaws but would really have preferred the 64gb option. I think I'm going to find a way to make that happen now that I know for sure I can. I have to say, this machine is a little beast. I did however upgrade the power supply and went with a 240W brick. I noticed the 240W brick is much cooler when the system is under load and it allows the CPU all the room it needs. I am running into some CPU throttling but I'm currently looking into some possible modifications to fix that as well. Another option I hadn't thought possible before owning this system is that it handles video games quite well. I'm using it as a sort of media server/HTPC. I ended up connecting some Xbox One controllers to it and installing Steam to test out some of my games in my library. After realizing this thing will run GTA 5 with no issues, it's changed a lot of the way I think about gaming requirements.

[@kenzieduckmoo]

I love these project tinyminimicro videos. Sure the insane enterprise hardware videos are cool to see whats out there, but theyre just not that practical to know about. These types of videos are good for actual ideas

[@akurenda1985]

I love this series. Since you guys use Proxmox in production, could you do a video on doing a ceph cluster on 3 of the tiny mini micro computers? =)

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

We have something like that on the editorial list to go do

[@bobcarpenter1551]

There's also an i9-9900T 35W CPU that's 8/16 cores/threads in Intel's arsenal.

[@Pressbutan]

Welp, just bit the bullet and took your advice. Bought a 5080 (10500T, 16gb, 1tb nvme) to replace my 9020 (4570T, 8gb, 120gb msata). Thanks for all the help!

[@treynerzak5314]

i got one on ebay for 245 with a keyboard and mouse, had to get a displayport to hdmi dongle at best buy for 9 bucks :D its arriving today! planning to run proxmox and home assistant with frigate :)

[@TheDillio187]

I love this series, hope you get back to it soon!

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Looks like in Dec will get back to it. One of the big challenges is just getting units. For some of the newer ones we had not tested it was 3-5 months to be able to get them and the pricing has gone up too.

[@TheDillio187]

@@ServeTheHomeVideo I’m looking forward to it. And the world has gone crazy, we have some 5248F-ONs on order, they’re telling us 5 months!

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

@@TheDillio187 We are going to have a big piece on the S5200 series likely in the next 2-3 weeks. Make sure you check that out.

[@TheDillio187]

@@ServeTheHomeVideo I'm looking forward to it. I have a pile of R740 servers that will be used as a VSphere cluster along with a new Powerstore 1000T to plug into ours when we get them. Have a great Thanksgiving!

[@siddraj2002]

I was looking forward to you discussing which DP and HDMI versions the 3070 and 7070 run and whether they are capable of 4k60 and HDR, since the on board 630 graphics are certainly capable of that. I am trying to figure out if these systems will be good HTPC. Also would have been helpful what omission of vPro means in terms of homelab/media pc usage

[@pcphantom1978]

If you want to run HDR you need the HDMI 2.0b optional port. The default DP ports don't seem to support it.

[@denvera1g1]

I want all servers, desktops and laptops to have USB-C, why? well for KVM, i work on servers, desktops and laptops all the time, and having a single port, and a single cable, that carries, not only keyboard, video, and mouse, but also carries internet and power? well sign me up, give me a 24 port USB-C KVM/POE Switch combo that can power 24 laptops at a time, no need for power bricks, or ethernet dongles

[@denvera1g1]

@starshipeleven the laptops i'm working with(6 core AMD) work fine with a 30w charger, so a 750w power supply should be fine, however, i would prefer a 208v 2+kw PSU so i can do this with desktops as well. this isnt unheard of as i beleive our AP controller has dual 1.5kw PSUs as they feed ~50 APs each at........ 30w, but over a long distance so its like 50w

[@Birdulon]

Wish granted ;) [puts USB2.0 USB-C ports on all devices]

[@denvera1g1]

@@Birdulon As long as it provides seperate channels for KVM and network that would be fine, near half gigabit ethernet is more than enough if you've got 24 devices running off a sungle 1g link to the stack, or, a managment network, heck, even 10mbps

[@denvera1g1]

@starshipeleven DVI doesnt normally cary keyboard/mouse, but our old KVM does

[@denvera1g1]

@starshipeleven I was referring to the fact that most KVMs take a standard port, and do things that are not officially supported by that port, a KVM manufacturer certainly can take a USB port, and wire it up to provide USB2.0, ethernet, video, and power, but that would require you to buy one of their proprietary breakout cables. you cannot normally run keyboard/mouse over DVI, but our KVM takes that -DVI port- DSM59 port and turns it into two VGA, and 2 USB ports for 2 different computers, because they are making the KVM to be used only with their cables, all they need to licence is the connector, not its features. We also have a larger 16 port KVM that uses what i am pretty sure is the SCSI 50 pin connector to break out into 2 VGA/DVI and 2xUSB, but the SCSI connector was only ever designed for storage, like SATA

[@kwajtube]

there's a fiber optic NIC that plugs into the wifi slot too.

[@bobcarpenter1551]

You can easily convert DP to HDMI, including audio, using a passive dongle or cable. However, try to convert HDMI to DP. You'll need a conversion adapter. DP, IMHO, is a better option than HDMI. $$

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Great point.

[@Birdulon]

Main downside with DP->HDMI is the lower signalling voltage of DP limiting the range of such setups. As much as I like using DP on my monitors, longer (10m+) HDMI cables are much much cheaper than DP ones in my experience.

[@rmenem2113]

how do i install linux on it? when i install, the micro enters the dell recovery screen.

[@aetch77]

The 2 front 3.5mm jacks are headset and line out.

[@danfitzpatrick4112]

I have the 7050. These exhume quality! Fantastic, Love mine with Linux Mint and its fast!

[@JordosTechShack]

I have a client that bought 18 of the 3080s new directly from Dell. 8 had failed hard drives in the first year (all Toshiba drives), and three had the power adapters start to go. The adapters stoped negotiating correctly and the systems thought they were 35w adapters and throttled the PC to 792mhz. They got the adapters swapped under warranty but chose to have me swap the failing drives with new SSDs instead of sending them back to Dell for repair.

[@heiaheiaheiahei]

I just got one yesterday and wondering if I can max it up to 64GB, thanks, solid and useful content, great job.

[@eric_has_no_idea]

Wonder if there is a way to make a big common power supply, and save on efficiency like with pi-clusters.

[@DLTX1007]

Certainly, if they share the same voltage (which is not very often) and just wire something like a meanwell PSU to the respective plugs but they aren't terribly efficient Unfortunately they aren't 12v so y'know. If it was 12v you could cut off the adaptor wires and wire to a HP 750W 591556-201 i guess. but since they're not you're gonna need loads of step up converters which ruin the plan Remember, you can't directly wire inside as they have 5v and 3.3v and -5v DC-DC converters internally.

[@movax20h]

Might not be possible. It looks like motherboard is communicating with PSU to detect what model is being used. :/

[@magicflute5947]

I love this Project as well. Thanks so much.

[@kaede15]

My first choice would be HP EliteDesk 800 G2 mini, this is my second choice. You can basically buy 3 of G2 minies with the Dell 7070 budget, but Dell has a more modern CPU. I guess it depends on the usability. If you only need one tiny server I would definitely recommend the Dell, it packed more of a punch. But if it is for a cluster of 3+ nodes then I think the G2 is a better choice. Otherwise with the money you are spending on the project might as well get a proper Dell R730XD. Does anyone know if there is Tiny terminal around this volume that support 3.5" Hdd??

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Totally agree on the G2. Just trying to show some diversity in configurations. On the HDD I am not sure if these had that. We have seen folks use external USB 3 SSDs with these and one was mentioned in the recent Plex guide

[@ArcEso]

Extremely competent! Thank you!

[@TerenceKearns]

2:05 that serial port can be replaced with an inexpensive 10gb ethernet outlet which connect to internal pcie.

[@kennyb1292]

Use these specific boxes at Best Buy for our workstations. Awesome little buggers!

[@rajr4168]

You alluded to circumventing the bios error when using a 65W adapter. Can you please elaborate? Is it possible to use a generic SMPS like Meanwell? I think the bios and the adapter communicate capabilities, and prevent use of 3rd party adapters.

[@MohdHasan-mh7cl]

Which one do you think is a better choice - Optiplex 3060 with i5 8500T OR Optiplex 7050 with i5 7500T. I would be using it for personal home use (meaning remote management capabilities aren't required). Thanks in advance.

[@neccros007]

I got 2 minis for free from a friend and would love to see what you guys do with these... Mine are 4th gen so older but still capable

[@__-cs3lc]

pfsense?

[@neccros007]

@@__-cs3lc not on a single nic box

[@Felix-ve9hs]

@@neccros007 just get a cheap 5 Port Gigabit Switch with VLAN Support (~$20), use one Switch Interface as WAN, one as your Trunk Port and the other 3 as LAN. If you don't have 1Gbps Internet, this should work perfectly fine. I am doing this too and get ~700Mbps (iperf) :D

[@neccros007]

@@Felix-ve9hs I already have a 1U box for pfsense... I was curious what server/VMs these minis can handle

[@Felix-ve9hs]

@@neccros007 maybe a Minecraft Server, Pi-hole, Plex Media Server, Docker, ddns, home automation, UniFi Controller, NAS, VPN, Video surveillance, Kubernetes ... the options are almost endless

[@percy4979]

Hi, I've just bought the Micro 7060 i5 8500t for Proxmox etc. I wonder if that will support 32gb of Ram as well?

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

It should

[@anhntq]

Does your computer support up to 64GB of RAM? According to the specifications from Dell, they state that the Dell 7070 MFF only supports up to 32GB RAM. I'm contemplating upgrading to 64GB, but I'm concerned that it might not recognize the full 64GB.

[@anthomore4269]

Is the cooling enough? Does it have external cooling aftermarket? Some examples like raspberry pi 4 colling case or Xbox one usb cooling fan on top? Does this have something similar?

[@Michael-pk2px]

Quick question, clean used 9700t 16gb variant for Less than $600 USD a good deal?

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Not too bad. I picked up an ebay HP EliteDesk 800 G6 with a Core i5-10500T and 16GB/512GB today for $500. Roughly similar levels of CPU performance. Sometimes you can get a newer i5 for less than the older i7. $600 is not too bad, $500 would be very good.

[@denvera1g1]

I wish the USB TV tuners worked well with Plex or i'd use one of these for plex, as my file server is seperate., i ended up having to replace my old Dell Poweredge R 710 with a home assembled server with 3x TV tuner cards (total of 12 tuners so that 6 can be recoreded at once and 6 playbacks) I used a 3700x temporarily and am hoping to get something like a Ryzen 5 Pro 4650G/5650G for ECC and on board video, as right now my server does not have a video card, and is not working well with ECC, the ECC issue could just be the board, but i couldnt find any board with a QVL that included ECC that was available so i went with asrock B450 Pro as it was at least stated to support ECC

[@travisjmchenry]

The newer models are coming with PCI express slots on certain sku's (HP's G6 and Dell's 7080 when configured for discrete gpu). 12 tuners in a LP pci express slot probably isn't going to work though. >.< Maybe if the motherboard supports pci-express bifurcation you could do a case mod to hold the tuners, kind of defeats most of the appeal of the formfactor though.

[@kancheongspidergaming]

The BG4 SSD actually leverages on system memory for cache under NVMe HMB. Linus made a video on the Kioxia BG4 which covered how HMB can allow for smaller M.2 drives without sacrificing alot of performance.

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Nigel, we did a review last year of the BG4 as well. It helps, but it is nowhere near the performance of a M.2 2280 drive that you can put in the slot. For space constrained systems it is great, but for these systems with larger M.2 slots, it is much slower and lower capacity than other options out there. www.servethehome.com/toshiba-bg4-single-package-m-2-2230-30mm-nvme-ssd-review/

[@kancheongspidergaming]

@@ServeTheHomeVideo ahhh... I didn't realize that you guys already did a written review of the SSD. I only heard about you guys after Linus did that SSD server with you and got intrigued to check out your site and channel. Thanks for the insight!

[@carloscuevas8268]

These are great, but I still like the HP elitedesk 800 g4 more because it has space for 2 m.2 nvme and with some creativity you can fit a 2.5" hdd too as the SATA slot is a cable not hardwired.

[@egorizzagor9305]

this is 2019 model, 7080 has this capability, hasn't it?

[@carloscuevas8268]

@@egorizzagor9305 yeah, 7080 has 2 nvme slots. It's just that the optiplexes were a little late to implement that.

[@ScarsUnseen24]

I reeeaaally like Optiplex and Latitude models. I use 2 Optiplex and 2 Latitudes at work and I personally own a Latitude at home.

[@RanTausi]

Is this dell 7070 micro ff better then Lenovo M720Q ?

[@adamortega7420]

What is the speed of the M.2 slot? Is it x4 or x2? Because on my Dell 3060 Micro, the PCIe slot speed is x2.

[@davecantina6113]

what model of dell OptiPlex micro can add a pcie lan port? can you give me the model thanks

[@charlescc1000]

Patrick, I've really been enjoying this series. Have you seen any TinyMiniMicro systems with three DP/HDMI ports onboard? I see many with 2x and a VGA, but a VGA is not suitable for modern displays.

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Hi Charles. The third port is optional. In this system the space was taken by a serial port. Others have DP/ HDMI configured. If you are buying used, you can look at the listings to see configurations. Almost all of the Dell, HP, Lenovo systems have an optional third port like that. If you want even more, check out the Lenovo P320 Tiny with a Quadro. We have the P330 as well for a future piece.

[@charlescc1000]

@@ServeTheHomeVideo Thanks Patrick. I had looked briefly on eBay and seen most don’t have the I/O for 3x displays. I will have to take a deeper dive and look carefully. Thanks! Also- as a NYC resident, this series is phenomenal! Space is a premium around here.

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

@@charlescc1000 We are not as space-constrained in Mountain View as NYC, but real estate here is over $1000/ sq ft as well so compactness matters.

[@GSC_Jadeo]

Is there a good rackmount case for the Dell Optiplex 7070 Micro?

[@billyscorner2232]

hi, to get the built in wifi working, do you need an external antenna? or USB dongle? or if it comes with a wifi card build in will the wifi work without any other hardware? thanks

[@karlmarks9885]

Hi, Patrick! Have you got any chance to test WoL on Dell Optiplex series? I'm curious- does Optiplex support “wake-ol-lan after G3” (after power loss)? This feature is pretty common for Lenovo Think* devices, according to my experience. What about Dell?

[@burger__boy1659]

What could the clusters uses for these devices be I am new to this and just wondering what use cases they have?

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Great for KVM virtualization labs as well as k8s edge clusters. We have guides to use them as pfSense firewalls as well as Plex servers. Check out what Chick-fil-A is doing with clusters of BUCs at the edge. These can be deployed similarly but with on-site support contracts from major vendors. Just a few ideas here.

[@DFX2KX]

I use my old 7010 DT as a MUD server, it's also a Folding@Home slave, so setting up a whole cluster of them to do the CPU-bound FAH projects is something else one could do.

[@heiaheiaheiahei]

Thanks!

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Wow! Thank you!

[@RCTPAVUK]

had some weirdness with 5050 micro (7500t + I219 nic) and centos 7. Nic wouldn't run full gigabit no matter what on linux, windows was ok.

[@kadiritu]

Is fan noisy? I would like to use it as home server. If fan noise is hearable i will buy msi cubi 5 instead

[@jschaudt]

I was able to get a 5070 with Q370 chipset, but can't do the 65W CPU either. Is there a decent site to search for these T-Series 9th gen chips used or OEM?

[@p3chv0gel22]

Is there just a blank Space on the 3070, where the serial Port would be, or is this some sort of strange Port i never saw?

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

It is a blank space. Vendors use that space to configure display, serial, or just leave blank.

[@MelvinDlaCruz]

Which one you think is the better option the 7070 or 7099

[@magicflute5947]

Can someone please kindly advise which tiny box can support 8c16t CPU and 128GB RAM (4 sodimm slots)? Thanks so much!!

[@yassinemoulim7513]

i would recommend u to check the new ryzen lineup of 4000s they are beasts with low tdp and the best thing is they have integrated gpus that can help you out and give u some advantages to do some light gaming and so on .

[@chandirasegaran25]

Sir where can I buy the optimal HDMI Port for 7070 please tell sir

[@sphinx4579]

15w at idle is crazy, you can get a used enterprise grade server that is cheaper and consumes less electricity but size of course is a compromise. I want it but that cpu running 24/7 adds up pretty quick which makes this purchase nonsensical price wise

[@SP-ny1fk]

for the i5 the theoretical Ram limit is 128GB - but no one wants to chance buying 64GB sticks at that price to test it - the most they've tested therefore is 64GB. Who wants to put their hand up to test 128GB and report back?

[@thatLion01]

Patrick is there anyway to contact you?

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Shoot me an email. First name at STH

[@jaquesaulait]

Good, but enunciating clearly would provide a significant inprovement.

[@maxmustermann5612]

i guess your poject "tiny mini micro" only consistst of reviewing SFF systems ? as nothing else ever came :) ... my chef would lay me off having a project stretched that long :) for the money you spend i could buy 10 after market S3467 with CPUs and Ram :)

[@jerryli5555]

How much did Dell pay you?! Its quality is questionable. I had several dell products, none of them last more than one and a half years

[@ServeTheHomeVideo]

Jerry - $0. We bought all of the Project TinyMiniMicro units. I actually personally love my XPS 13 that I bought years ago, except for the nosecam.

[@DFX2KX]

Funny, my Optiplex 7010 has lasted me 3 years, and it was well used when I bought it for a whole $80....

[@jonathanbuzzard6648]

@@DFX2KX My desktop at work is an 8 year old Optiplex 790 DT....

[@ScarsUnseen24]

Optiplex models are generally considered by many to be high quality products, even refurbished ones.